Botswana team off for Rio 2016 qualifiers

The Botswana national rugby sevens team is currently in South Africa where they will compete in the African chapter of the Rio 2016 Olympic qualifiers slated for Johannesburg. The team left for SA earlier this week to compete in the games that will start from Sunday until November 23 at Kempton Park stadium.

The tournament comprises of 12 teams - Botswana, Namibia, Kenya, Madagascar, Senegal, Mauritius, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Tunisia, Morocco, Nigeria and Uganda – and in a statement this week, the Botswana Rugby Union (BRU) revealed that Botswana had been drawn in Pool C alongside Tunisia, Morocco and Namibia.

Other teams have been drawn in Pools A and B with the former pitting Kenya Madagascar, Senegal and Mauritius together while Pool B has Zimbabwe, Uganda, Zambia and Nigeria. Only the tournament winner will qualify for the 2016 Rio Olympics while the teams ranked 2, 3 and 4 will be qualified for the repechage tournament to be played in 2016.

South Africa have already qualified for the Rio games from their top finish at the 2014/15 World Rugby Sevens Series, and Kenya, who are ranked second on the continent, entered the tournament next week as top seeds. Rugby Sevens will mark a return to the Olympic Games in 2016 after being readmitted by the IOC.

Botswana Team List (Men Olympic Qualifier 7’s): Ketshedile Matenanga, Omphile Debula, Ernest Eddy, Lesedi Cherry, Alpheous Mokotedi, Kaelo Mogotsi, Jeremy Dobrowsky, Kagiso Molefhi, James Shamwaka, Emmanuel Ntshiwa, Koorapetse Lesotlho, Dent Patrick Headcoach Seabe Gabatladiwe, Assistant coach: Sean Irish, Team manager: Frederick Kebadiretse